Wharfedale to Malhamdale and Hetton

Last week, I had a speaking appointment at Threshfield in North Yorkshire at 9.15am, and was due to attend a meeting at Hetton Chapel at 7.30pm. Rather than twice venturing back and forth, I thought I’d spend the hours between walking.

I left Threshfield at 10.45am, walking across Bordley Moor and the hills above Malhamdale, arriving at Malham aound 2pm, and from there went to Kirkby Malham to see the ancient church. I carried along on to the Friend’s Meeting House at Airton whereat my ancestors lie buried, walking on to Calton where Major General Lambert lived, and passing Thomas Whalley’s ex-Presbyterian Chapel at Winterburn before stumbling up to Hetton, arriving around 5.15pm.

I had purchased a 'meal deal' from Tesco at Skipton between bus connections at 7am, and this served me well, but I was hungry by the time I got to Kirkby Malham. I hoped to buy refreshment at the alehouse but it was closed when I arrived, so I went straight to the church. Imagine my pleasure when I read a sign within inviting me to make a cuppa and enjoy some biscuits, for which I gave some pounds in return. It was not the leg of mutton or brace of partridge which I might have procured from the public house next door, but it filled a gap and gave the energy to keep walking. The tea was pleasant, but it was not a glass of cooled lemonade or sweetest cider which a sunny afternoon might have otherwise demanded. Yet it was enough, and I was grateful.

I was very tired by the time I arrived at Hetton (and doubly glad for having remembered my key); my feet were leaden and blistered and my face burned red by the surprisingly bright, spring sunshine. Had the good folk of Kirkby Malham not deigned to provision their church with refreshments, I should have found the remaining five and a half miles an even greater slog. If any of them should ever read this, I offer my thanks. 

Some Christians are disappointed by church. They expect to go and experience the riches of glory, the purity of worship and the closeness of Christ which they know to be in heaven. If heaven offers cooked food and a pint glass of something refreshing, earthly church offers a mere cup of tea and a broken digestive. It is but a halfway house, a stopping point, a service station. The destination is not church, but the throne room of glory. This is not to say that church leaders should make no greater effort to feed and bless the flock, but it might mean than church-goers have more realistic expectations of what church is for. It is but a bench before the summit, the greasy spoon café ahead of the night’s posh dinner, the Travelodge enroute to the airport.

But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labour; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. Philippians 1:22-24, New King James Version